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Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them

economist.com

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Re: Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them

#231

Post by juliushuijnk »

rzz3 wrote: post #126
taway1874 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And this kind of thinking is how we end up with a society shown in the move Idiocracy. While you and your loved ones might survive at the cost of other more considerate people BUT the human race will become slightly dumber.

I can’t really understand where you’re coming from. Self preservation is at the absolute core of us all. You can’t honestly expect the average human to put the lives of unknown strangers before the lives of their own, as you say, loved ones.

This assumes life is a zero sum game. If you put the lives of strangers above your own, your life might improve.

Re: Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them

#232

Post by unstatusthequo »

energy123 wrote: post #212
veggieWHITES wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A tax would make it even more dystopian. Imagine the rich paying for the right to murder people on the road.

I don't care about your ideology. Tax works as a solution to deter behavior you don't want and raise revenue which can be spent on good things that make society function.

Nah there are other solutions to life’s problems than just taxes. HN loves taxing stuff. Don’t know why this site is stuck in single channel thinking.

Re: Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them

#233

Post by brendoelfrendo »

doubled112 wrote: post #111
Xenoamorphous wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just googled that car and apprently it’s nearly 5 meters long, longer than a BMW 3 Series, it’s funny that’s considered a small car over there because that’d be considered a big one over here (not even mid-sized). Over here: small is anything from a Smart to a Renault Twingo/Ford Fiesta/VW Polo. Medium: VW Golf, Ford Focus. Large: anything bigger than medium.

I’ve had this conversation with many people before. When I had my first son, we upgraded from a Chevy Aveo5 to a Ford Focus. Everybody told me it was still much too small for a couple with a child. It’s a family sedan anywhere except North America. Go away.

This "family cars must be huge" take is a weird take, too. Can a Ford Focus fit a car seat? Yes! Then it's big enough for a couple with a child. I guess I'll add rear doors; even if a car seat would fit in the rear of a coupe, I wouldn't recommend that for anyone.

If your family requires more than 4 seats on a regular basis, sure, get a minivan; but I don't understand the appeal of an F150 or other large vehicle as a "family commuter" for, we'll say, the family of median size.

Re: Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them

#234

Post by Bloating »

1986 wrote: post #23
PaulHoule wrote: post #3

I hate sounding like a broken record but my belief is that car makers are more excited about XXXXL cars in American than car buyers are. The media is consistently complicit in covering this up, sounding like the brainwashed soldiers in The Manchurian Candidate It's not to say that we don't like big cars because we do, but walk into a car dealership looking for a small car and they will tell you they are out of stock…

It's an arms race too, I'm in the market for a car now and would prefer something compact for city parking, but given that every _other_ car on the road these days seems to be an enormous SUV, I'm looking at probably at least a crossover so I won't constantly feel like I'm about to get steamrolled by a 4Runner or F150

sounds like you need anxiety meds

Re: Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them

#235

Post by heisenbit »

nradov wrote: post #207
AdrianB1 wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We do it different in Europe: pay disproportionate by engine displacement. My father's car has 10x the taxes as my mother's car just because the engine is 1.6 times larger (2.5 liters, nothing outrageous). At the same time my mother pays for that car quite close to what I pay for each of my bikes that are 8-10 times lighter and have way smaller engines (300cc and 600cc).

The notion of charging different fees or taxes by engine displacement is idiotic. It has nothing particularly to do with road wear, emissions, or safety hazards.

If you want a measure that can not be easily manipulated and can serve as an albeit imperfect proxy for wear, emissions, weight and last but not least ability to pay then displacement is an option for taxation.

Re: Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them

#236

Post by AdrianB1 »

closewith wrote: post #184
AdrianB1 wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We do it different in Europe: pay disproportionate by engine displacement. My father's car has 10x the taxes as my mother's car just because the engine is 1.6 times larger (2.5 liters, nothing outrageous). At the same time my mother pays for that car quite close to what I pay for each of my bikes that are 8-10 times lighter and have way smaller engines (300cc and 600cc).

Where in Europe is that? In Ireland, displacement-based taxes were replaced by emission taxes 14 years ago. I think most countries have followed suite.

Romania, but neighboring countries have similar systems.

Re: Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them

#237

Post by yyyk »

Groxx wrote: post #127
erikaww wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Car makers would adjust but road freight would fight this tooth and nail

If only we had other technologies for moving heavy things without using concrete roads

Horses? I don't see how you really solve last mile.

Re: Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them

#238

Post by thih9 »

stefan_ wrote: post #172
thih9 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Per capita passenger mileage is 2x lower in Germany vs US[1]; it looks like this accounts for just ~half of the difference - and there are other factors responsible for increased mortality. [1]: https://frontiergroup.org/resources/fact-file-americans-driv...

Other factors indeed, like population density - I assume you won't like correcting for that.

On the contrary, please show how you would correct for that, ideally with sources.

Re: Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them

#239

Post by amrocha »

dgfitz wrote: post #140
globular-toast wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment shows how bad car culture is. You think you're the enlightened one, but you want an electric sports car for getting "around town"? People should be walking or cycling around town. Cars are actively harmful to towns. Cars have led to generations of people who don't realise they are capable of walking further than a few steps between car and building. A kind of learned helplessness. When you step outside o…

> People should be walking or cycling around town. This. Is a very out of touch opinion. I could write 20 paragraphs disagreeing, but I doubt it is worth my time to write or anyone else’s to read. Not every person is able-bodied enough to walk and bike. Also, people happen to need to get from A to B when it is cold, dark, raining, extremely hot, snowing, or just some kind of shitty outside. People need to drive to a…

Alright, I'll respond.

>Not every person is able-bodied enough to walk and bike

And the same goes for cars, except kids can ride bikes, so car accessibility is actually just worse.

>Also, people happen to need to get from A to B when it is cold, dark, raining, extremely hot, snowing, or just some kind of shitty outside

You can walk or cycle in all of those conditions. In fact, I have walked or cycled in all of those conditions in the past 6 months.

>People need to drive to a store for food or supplies that cannot be carried or biked back to the destination

There's very little that can't be carried on a bike or public transport, but you can always rent a car for a couple hours if needed. Let's be real, that's not why 99.9% of people are driving cars.

>People have multiple children that simply cannot walk or bike

Where I live it's common to see mothers cycle with their kids on child seats in their bikes.

>Old people cannot simply walk or bike.

And a lot of them can't drive either.

Re: Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them

#240

Post by tialaramex »

Eumenes wrote: post #68
dionian wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like a heavier car is actually safer to put me and my loved ones inside, at least for now.

You must drive a smaller car so others around you are safer. Just like how you have to vaccinated to protect others. Its part of the social contract that you signed, duh.

Actually medical ethics rejects herd immunity as the purpose of vaccination. All the recommended vaccinations are because the benefit to the individual vaccinated significantly outweighs the cost to them. Herd immunity is a public health benefit but ethically it wouldn't be enough to justify the intervention.

For HPV for example, the reason there's a period when it was given to girls not boys is that the evidence wasn't available to show a benefit for the boys. Obviously vaccinating boys means they're less likely to give the disease to anybody they have sex with, but that's not a personal benefit and so it's not an ethical reason to recommend vaccinating boys. The evidence that they wouldn't get a bunch of other rarer cancers caused by HPV was enough reason to vaccinate boys, and that arrived later.

That ethical dilemma about sacrificing one patient to save more? That's not a thing.

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